(Boursier.com) — The CAC40 lost 2.3% over the week in an atmosphere weighed down by the stalemate in negotiations around the US debt ceiling… The CAC40 thus ended the week at 7,319 points, despite a recovery weekend in the wake of the good figures of the American Nvidia.
Doubts persist over negotiations on the US debt ceiling, even if some more favorable news arrived on Thursday evening… While House Speaker Kevin McCarthy once again showed his optimism at the from another 4-hour meeting on Wednesday (“I still think we have time to come to an agreement and get it done”), Fitch called everyone to order: The agency placed the note “AAA” of the United States under surveillance, due to the stalemate of the negotiations. Fitch estimates that the United States’ rating could be downgraded if the debt ceiling is not raised or suspended by the June 1 deadline.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, has again warned that Washington could run out of money to pay the bills as soon as early next month. This uncertainty is clearly visible on the bond market where US government bond yields are trending up sharply, especially on the shortest maturities.
At the latest, however, the positions of the two camps would now be separated by only $70 billion for discretionary spending, sources told Reuters. The deal is expected to focus on a limited amount of funding rather than a massive bill, hundreds of pages long, which could take days to be drafted by parliamentarians.
The negotiators should agree on the main amounts allocated to discretionary spending, in particular to fix the budget granted to the army, but let the elected representatives of Congress work out the details via the traditional procedures in the coming months, reported a close folder.
In 2022, discretionary spending in the United States reached $1.7 trillion, or 27% of all government spending which amounted to $6.27 trillion, according to federal data. Nearly half of that amount was on defense, an area where Republicans refuse to cut spending…
Regarding interest rates precisely, according to the “minutes” of the Fed released Wednesday evening, the officials of the American Central Bank are “broadly agreed” at the meeting of May 2 and 3 that the need to continue to raise interest rates had become “less certain”… The Fed is now expected to pause in its aggressive interest rate hike campaign at its June 13-14 meeting: the FedWatch tool assesses the odds of status quo at around 70%. The hypothesis of a rate cut this year, considered by some market participants, has however been ruled out by recent comments from some US central bank officials.
On the macro front, the US economy grew slightly more than initially estimated. According to the second reading of GDP for the first quarter of 2023, activity increased by 1.3% at an annualized rate over the period, against 1.1% in the first estimate, and after growth of +2.6% in the quarter. previous. Personal consumption expenditure increased by 3.8%, against +3.7% estimated previously, and +1% for the previous evaluation. The price index attached to GDP shows an increase of 4.2% against a gain of 4% revealed at first reading, after +3.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022. The ‘core’ price index increases for its part 5% against +4.9% initially estimated and +4.4% in the previous quarter.
Unemployment claims for their part rose slightly last week… The US Department of Labor has just announced, for the week ended May 20, that jobless claims reached 229,000, up 4,000 from compared to the previous week. The consensus was positioned at 245,000. Note that the data for the previous week has been revised down sharply (-17,000). The four-week average stands at 237,750, stable over one week. Finally, the number of unemployed people receiving benefits for the week ended May 13 stands at 1.794 million, down 5,000 over seven days (1.800 million consensus).
In the real estate market, home sales promises (data from the National Association of Realtors) for the month of April remained stable over one month after posting their first decline since November in March (-5.2%). They were expected to rise by 1%. Commitments to sell are often seen as a leading indicator of existing home purchases, as properties are usually contracted a month or two before being sold. Year-on-year, pledges fell by 22.6%.
On the oil market, crude fell with a barrel of Brent trading at $77 in London. On the currency market, the dollar index gained further ground around 104 pts, while the euro fell to $1.0735 between banks.
VALUES
Aramis took over 11%. Over the first six months of its staggered financial year, the automotive group generated a positive adjusted EBITDA of 1 million euros, for a turnover of 940.8 million euros, up +7.8%. . Volumes of refurbished cars sold increased by 15.6% compared to the 1st half of 2022, of which +4.9% excluding acquisitions in Austria and Italy, a clear outperformance compared to the dynamics of the used vehicle market in decline of -9%.
Gross margin per vehicle sold (GPU) stands at 2,166 euros, at a high level and in line with that of 2,150 euros targeted by Aramis Group, despite the dilutive effect of the acquisitions in Austria and Italy. Unless the macroeconomic environment deteriorates further, Aramis Group expects positive organic growth in its volumes of reconditioned vehicles sold to individuals and a positive adjusted EBITDA for the full year.
LFE takes 10%. The energy producer with a negative carbon footprint announced that it had discovered significant concentrations of natural hydrogen (known as “white or native hydrogen”) in one of the wells previously drilled by FDE.
As part of the Regalor research project carried out in collaboration with the University of Lorraine and the CNRS, an innovative program of measurements deployed on the Folschviller well has indeed made it possible to quantify significant levels of dissolved hydrogen in the Carboniferous aquifer. at different depths.
FDE has thus submitted an application for the granting of an exclusive mining exploration permit known as the “Trois-Évêchés Permit” for the exploration of natural hydrogen (H2) in the Lorraine mining basin.
The permit application submitted covers an area of 2,254 km(2), in the departments of Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle. In this context, FDE is already planning to carry out new measurements of hydrogen concentration in three existing wells in order to enrich studies on the mechanisms of formation, transfer and production of white hydrogen in the Lorraine geological context. A pilot site will be identified on the basis of the results obtained and then implemented to initiate local production and recovery of natural hydrogen in the Grand-Est.
This natural hydrogen exploration permit is thus part of the Group’s development strategy in the H2 ecosystem of the Greater Region (Grand Est, Wallonia, Luxembourg, Sarre and Rhineland-Palatinate) in order to provide local production of ecologically and economically competitive energies to the inhabitants, industrialists and communities of these territories, major energy consumers. This project will also benefit from the future commissioning of MosaHYc carried by GRTgaz and CREOS, which will allow the transport of H2 via a 100% hydrogen cross-border pipeline.
With this discovery and the parallel development of strategic gas, hydrogen and CO2 storage projects in Lorraine, FDE once again demonstrates the rich potential of the Lorraine basin and the Group’s positioning as a leading player in the circular economy of the territories in order to promote the reduction of their carbon footprint.
Esi-Group : +7%. In the context of recent rumors in the press, the group indicated that it was “currently in preliminary discussions with certain third parties following the receipt of non-binding proposals relating to a potential acquisition of the company”. ESI Group “remains fully confident and mobilized to carry out the ‘OneESI 2024 – Focus to Grow’ plan, and there is no certainty at this stage that these preliminary discussions will lead to an agreement or an operation”, insists the group. , which will communicate on any significant developments “in a timely manner and in accordance with regulatory requirements”.
Recall that according to Bloomberg sources, the software publisher would explore a potential sale when it would be the target of multiple suitors, including Dassault Systemes. ESI would work with advisers who would evaluate various options, according to agency sources. Private equity firms TA Associates and Francisco Partners are also reportedly among possible suitors. The deliberations would be in progress, without certainty of a positive outcome…
Dassault Systems goes up 6% with M&P with Ramsay
Atos climbs 5%
Bonduelle rises 5% after the change of governance, followed by Catana and SG (+3%)
Soitec regains 2% with Transgene, Axway and ALD
On the decline, rally drop of 20%, while Casino yields 9%. As expected, the distributor announced the opening of a conciliation procedure for an initial period of four months, possibly extendable by one month. The purpose of this procedure is to allow the Casino Group to engage in discussions with its financial creditors within a legally secure framework. In the context of ongoing discussions with the TERACT group and the Groupement Les Mousquetaires on the one hand, as well as in the extension of the proposal made to it by EP Global Commerce on the other hand, the Casino group considers that the procedure conciliation will make it possible to better frame the discussions with its creditors and potential investors.
The group’s consolidated net debt reached 6.4 billion euros at the end of December. Casino must repay 3 billion euros in debt over the next two years and the holding company through which Jean-Charles Naouri controls it is also heavily indebted.
Casino has also announced the signing with the Groupement Les Mousquetaires, owner of the Intermarché supermarket chain, of a “protocol of intentions which significantly extends and extends their industrial and purchasing partnerships, and which optimizes their respective networks”. This memorandum provides for the sale by the Casino group to the Groupement Les Mousquetaires of a set of points of sale from the Casino France scope (Hypermarkets, Supermarkets, Convenience stores) representing approximately 1.05 billion euros in turnover excluding tax. . Groupement Les Mousquetaires has also undertaken (promise to purchase) to acquire from the Casino group, if the latter so requests, an additional volume of stores representing 461 million euros in turnover excluding tax.
Finally, the Groupement Les Mousquetaires will participate, under the conditions of a minority stake, in the future round table of the Casino group, with an equity investment of €100 million…
Chargers fell 14% after disappointing accounts, followed by BigBen (-13%), P&V (-12%) and Nexity
Derichebourg : -11%, followed by Vivendi after the sale of securities by Bolloré, followed by Sopra (-9%) and Amundi (-8%)
Teleperformance : -7% with Groupe Crit, Seb and BNP Paribas (-5%) with Vallourec, Believe, Euronext and FNAC
LVMH : -4% with the luxury sector which fears a Chinese slowdown. Kering sells 4%.
Dassault Aviation : -3% followed by OVH, Gl Events, Interparfums.